Son Raw is the French Connection Some people go on vacation to lie on a beach, I end up in Parisian basements mixing records. In between listening to Future’s Covered in Money at Versailles (your move, Kanye) and eating enough French food to give Action Bronson pause, I visited Rinse France co-founder Azamat B’s weekly […]

We’re living in the Golden Age of Son Raw No “1 DJ and 1 MC” nostalgia here – strictly up to the minute vibrations. While I’m a big fan of the adlibs, multiple flows and harmonizing that go on in contemporary Hip-Hop, there’s a tangible energy that you only get through live rapping and hour […]

Son Raw tried, he really did. Because I’d rather post a 7 year old radio session than review the new Skream single. What can I say,  I rate rap music ’cause I never dug disco. Download link and a Mala and Pokes live set from Fabric after the jump for the archeologists out there.

Son Raw wants to know why you smoking reggie? It’s impossible to listen to the music DJs Rashad, Spinn and Earl are making these days without making connections. Connections to the records they sample – 90s Hip-Hop classics like Lyrics to Go,  Luchini and C.R.E.A.M get atomized and accelerated along with the classic soul platters Chicago […]

Part 2 of Son Raw’s continuing look at London’s best radio station. Part 1 here. Dubstep: The cream of the crop Dubstep has seen better days on Rinse, as London’s sound of choice has found itself out of favor amongst listeners dissuaded by the anti-cool factor that comes with being America’s soundtrack to take drugs […]

Son Raw’s been wanting to write this for years Pre-recorded podcasts may have more polish and The Boiler Room might have the benefit of a live crowd, but tune for tune, there’s nowhere better to hear fresh urban electronic music than London institution Rinse.FM. Starting off as a Jungle pirate in the mid 90s, the […]

Son Raw bombs the system The history of London’s urban pirate radio is still murky and half-told with details only beginning to trickle out now that the format has mostly migrated to legal online locations. For those of us on North-American shores who’ve grown up in the hyper-commercialized Clear Channel era, there’s still something unbelievable […]